Ocean Springs shutting down municipal jail

Updated September 6, 2018 at 6:54 PM;Posted September 6, 2018 at 6:53 PM

Ocean Springs is shutting down the municipal jail inside the police department on U.S. 90. Instead, all Ocean Springs prisoners will be housed at the Jackson County Adult Detention Center. (City of Ocean Springs)

OCEAN SPRINGS, Mississippi -- The City of Ocean Springs is shutting down its six-year-old municipal jail.

Alderman Rob Blackman and police chief Mark Dunston each confirmed to The Mississippi Press that an agreement has been reached for all city prisoners to be housed at the Jackson County Adult Detention Center in Pascagoula.

"We'll take arrestees straight to the ADC after we book them at our station," Dunston said, "just like every other agency in the county. We were the only municipality on the coast with a full corrections facility and it's just a huge liability."

The new arrangement began shortly after the agreement was approved by both county supervisors and Ocean Springs aldermen last month. Dunston said at the time there were three prisoners housed in the city jail who had to be moved to the ADC.

The municipal jail opened in January 2012 as part of the new $6.6 million, 18,000 square foot police station on U.S. 90 east, built largely with funding from the city's 2 percent food & beverage tax. At capacity, it could hold 20 "residential" inmates and another 15 in the booking area.

But the cost of providing liability insurance and the risk to officers ultimately proved too great, Blackman said.

"We had that incident not long ago where an inmate attacked one of our officers," he said. "It's things like that -- the safety of our officers and the liability involved, that makes this a good move for the City and why I supported it.

"We were just looking to get out of the jail business."

Dunston said anyone arrested in Ocean Springs who can post bond and be released in less two hours will remain at the OSPD. But all others -- including those charged with DUI and public drunk -- will be transported to the ADC. No longer will anyone spend a night in the Ocean Springs jail, he said.

The $27.6 million ADC opened in 2015. It has 725 beds and, according to the prisoner roster on the County website, there are currently 375 prisoners being housed there.

While cost savings figures were not readily available, both men said there will be a savings to the City -- even after paying Jackson County $35 per prisoner, per day and the additional fuel costs in transporting prisoners to Pascagoula.

"Off the top, we'll save on our liability insurance," Dunston said. "By the time the costs are matched up between paying the county versus running our own correctional facility, there will be a savings."

With the jail facility no longer housing prisoners, it will instead be used for records and equipment storage, Blackman said.

"Currently, there are a lot of records being stored at Dewey Avenue (the former police station and now a substation) and they're out of space, so they're going to start using the jail area as storage."

Dunston said he could not comment on the status of the jail personnel working for Ocean Springs, citing privacy concerns, but Blackman said there have been discussions with Jackson County Sheriff Mike Ezell about hiring those displaced by the jail closure.

Noting he was not on the board of aldermen at the time, Blackman was nevertheless asked why the City would build a jail knowing the liability issues involved.

"Had I been on the board at that time, I would have asked that question," he said. "Why are we doing this when we can use the county facility? Unfortunately, I was not in office at that time."